


Paper Hearts

by mooses_gabriel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, M/M, kindergarten teacher Gabriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 14:02:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3731527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mooses_gabriel/pseuds/mooses_gabriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam is a single dad grieving for his late wife while his daughter goes to kindergarten. Robin's teacher is genuine, and quickly becomes friends with Sam. As both Gabriel and Sam fall for each other in a series of awkward flirting and pain from the past, Robin will have to be the push that really gets them to either stop dancing around each other or let it go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paper Hearts

It was the beginning of yet another school year and Gabriel had a feeling it was going to be different. He hummed as he stapled posters on the wall and wished the air conditioner would be fixed soon, preferably before Meet the Teacher day. Rolling up his sleeves and sorting through his box of classroom decoration, Gabriel smiled, glad to be back. He’d always loved children, but his girlfriend Kali had called off the engagement two years ago when they’d learn he was infertile. Since then, he’d been happy to teach kindergarten and bestow his life wisdom on other people’s children.

“Hey Gabriel. Ready for the next batch of young grasshoppers?” Andy said, leaning in the doorway.

“Andy! Man it’s good to see you,” Gabriel said, hopping off the short ladder and setting the stapler and letter “L” on a desk.

The two fist bumped and Andy stepped further into the room. “Dude it’s hot in here.”

“Must be me,” Gabriel quipped.

“I bet. How many moms are going to swoon over you this year?” The speech teacher said, half sitting on one of the low desks.

Gabriel laughed, “I don’t know. What can I say? Women like a man who’s good with kids.”

“They probably like you so much ‘cause you’re the same height and maturity level,” a new voice spoke from the door.

The two men looked over to see a familiar redhead, decked in jeans and a Lord of the Rings t-shirt. “’Sup bitches?”

“Charlie!” Gabriel said and ran over to hug his friend. Andy laughed and joined the hug, the two of them pressing their cheeks to Charlie’s face. “We missed you!”

“I gathered that,” she laughed as they let go and gave her some space.

“How was meeting the family? Dorothy’s relatives like you?” Andy asked as Gabriel climbed back up the ladder and Charlie handed up the stapler and big ABC’s.

She told them about visiting her girlfriend’s family over the summer as Gabriel kept decorating his classroom. The three chatted and bickered good-naturedly about the Avengers for a while until Andy decided to head home. Charlie left with him, and Gabriel called after them, “Hey could one of you ask for them to send someone to fix the AC in here?”

“Roger that,” Charlie said and exited the room with a smile and a wave.

Gabriel returned the wave and finished decorating his classroom. Then he cut two name tags for each student and taped one to a cubby and the other to a desk. Forgoing a seating chart, he pushed the desks together in groups of four and angled each pod so everyone wouldn’t have to turn around too much to see the board.

Satisfied with his work, Gabriel turned the light off and locked the door, knowing if someone stops by to fix the air conditioner they’d have a key. Whistling as he walked down the hall, he stopped by the office to talk to the principal.

“Hiya Chuck. Want a ride home?” He asked his best friend and boss.

“Nah that’s okay. Becks is driving the car up later to go out to dinner. Maybe we can catch a beer tomorrow after all the parents and kids have come and gone,” Chuck offered.

“I’m always up for the bar. See you tomorrow Chuck,” Gabriel called as he fished out his keys and walked out through the school’s front doors.

~*~ *~* ~*~

“Daddy!” A high pitched voice screamed and seconds later a weight was attaching itself to Sam’s leg.

“Hey sweetie! Ready to go home?” The man asked, picking up his daughter and signing her out of the daycare.

The little girl chatted excitedly about her day, playing with Sam’s hair as he carried her to his car and buckled her in.

“I can do it myself,” Robin pouted and unbuckled. Sam chuckled as she buckled the seatbelt again then he drove to their small home.

She ran inside and he had to remind her to take her shoes off and put them in the shoe basket beside the door. She did so then ran and flopped onto the couch, giggling hysterically. Sam snuck up behind the couch and then popped up, “Rawr!”

Robin shrieked and laughed, and her father leaned over the back of the couch to tickle her. Sam laughed as his daughter tried to pout but kept giggling. He smiled and leaned down to give her a raspberry and Robin screamed in his ear. He winced, but she was oblivious, still laughing and rubbing her cheek where he had blown the air. Picking her up, he said, “Bath time!”

Robin cheered and demanded to be put down so she could pick the bubbles she wanted. Strawberry, as always. Sam started the water as Robin went to pick out her pajamas, coming back with a superwomen top and tropical fruit bottoms. She hopped in the water, immediately putting the bubbles on her face, giving herself a lopsided beard.

“Look daddy I’m you!” Robin said as she took her finger and wiped it down her cheek with exaggerated carefulness.

“Sweetie I don’t use my fingers to shave,” Sam smiled.

“Yes you do.”

“No.”

“Yes,” she giggled and scooped up some bubbles, blowing them at Sam.

They stuck to his shirt, slowly popping one by one as he let them be. Grabbing the shampoo, Sam helped his daughter wash her long blonde hair while she made the two rubber ducks go on an adventure. Once he had finished rinsing out Robin’s hair, Sam told his daughter she could play for a little while.

“But you need to go to bed soon because guess what tomorrow is?”

“Meet teacher day!” Robin exclaimed excitedly and dunked a duck under the layer of bubbles into the water. Nodding, Sam told her to finish playing then waited until she reluctantly put the ducks back on the shelf.

“I’ll be back tomorrow Deanie and Cassie,” she told them, making the ducks tap bills before letting the water down the drain.

Sam smiled at his daughter’s names for the ducks. For some reason they reminded her of Sam’s brother Dean and his boyfriend. He helped her dry off, wrapping her up in a towel when she started shivering and saying he wasn’t going to let her go.

“You’re like a bear! You can’t hold me here forever you silly. I need to go meet Mr… Mr…” Robin trailed off.

“Mr. Ryder. Your teacher’s name is Mr. Ryder.” Sam let Robin get dressed and followed her to her room. He placed her moose stuffed animal next to her wolf stuffed animal and she grabbed the both, hugging them while Sam brought the blankets over her.

“Goodnight Robin. Love you,” he said, kissing her forehead and smoothing back her hair.

“’Night daddy, love you too,” she whispered and nuzzled into the pillow.

Sam flipped off the switch, made sure the night-light was on, then closed the door almost all the way, just as Robin liked it. He left the hall light on and walked toward the living room, passing a photo of Robin’s mother, Jess. He smiled sadly at the photo, then turned on the TV, looking for something to pass the time until he was tired. He kept glancing at the photo, and ended up going to bed early to stare up at the ceiling and wait for sleep to bring memories of Jess.

~*~ *~* ~*~

“Pleased to meet you,” Gabriel called after the couple leading their child out of his classroom, and they smiled as the little boy waved and shouted a goodbye.

The next student walked in, a little girl with long blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was pulling her father’s hand, and Gabriel had to admit his new student came from a good gene pool when he saw the tall man smiling nervously and looking around at all the decorations on the walls. Gabriel had gone all out this year.

“Hello! And who are you little miss,” the teacher said, squatting down to the girl’s level.

“’M Robin. And this is my daddy,” the girl said proudly, smiling up at her father.

“Well hello then Miss Robin. And Robin’s dad,” Gabriel said, standing back up and shaking Sam’s hand.

“Sam Winchester,” the man introduced himself.

“Gabriel Ryder. You can call me Mr. Ryder or Mr. R, if you want. Okay?” He asked Robin who nodded seriously.

“Now Robin, I’ve only got five rules in my class, think you can remember five rules?”

“Yes Mr. Ryder, I can even remember six,” she smiled.

Gabriel decided he really liked this one’s spunk. He walked over to a bulletin board where a stone shaped sign read, “Mr. Ryder’s Five Commandments.”

“Rule one, what Mr. Ryder says goes. Rule two, be nice. Rule three, share. Rule four, be cool. Got it so far?”

The teacher smiled at Robin who was nodding, and Sam found it endearing.

“And rule number five. The most important rule. Smile.”

Gabriel caught Sam’s eyes and winked when Robin grinned widely at her teacher and turned to show Sam.

“Very pretty! I see you’ve got them pearly whites. Why don’t you go find the desk with your name on it while I talk to your father about boring adult stuff. There’s a surprise on it for you,” Mr. Ryder grinned at Robin who hurried to look at all the desks.

“Any questions or concerns? You seem like the ‘this is my first kid in school’ type.”

Sam nodded, “Yeah Robin’s my first and only.”

“That’s it? No ‘oh my gosh, she’s all grown up I have to consider college tuition’ freak-out? No? I must say that’s disappointing, those are always entertaining,” Gabriel joked. Sam decided he liked this man, and that he would be a great teacher for Robin.

“No. It’s going to be weird on my days off when she’s at school, but she’s been so excited I don’t want to bring her down with my parental concerns. Are there any questions I should be asking? You don’t happen to have commandments for the parents to, do you?” Sam grinned back at the shorter man, whose eyebrows seemed unable to stay still for very long.

The eyebrows bounced up in a smirk, “Nope. The rules apply to all. The only difference is for the adults, the most important rule is what Mr. Ryder says, goes. Parents sometimes think they should be running the classroom. I have no idea why. We don’t get more complex than story time and playing with shaving cream.”

Sam laughed at that, “I don’t know. That sounds college level. You sure you’re a kindergarten teacher?”

“Guilty,” Gabriel said, and they both turned to watch Robin skip between the desks, looking at the names on each one and slowly spell out the letters until she found hers, giggling at the lollipop with a note on it. All the desk’s had candy, but each note for each kid Gabriel had written separately.

“She’s very enthusiastic,” Gabriel comments, lifting an eyebrow at Sam.

“Yeah she gets that from her mom,” Sam said with a sigh.

As Gabriel was about to ask where Sam’s wife was, Robin joined them and spoke instead. “Daddy you haven’t talk-ted about momma in a long time.”

Face falling, Sam picked up his daughter. “I know honey she–”

Robin turned to her teacher. “Daddy says momma is with Jesus now, singing with the angels on the clouds. I tell him that’s silly because clouds rain. What do you think Mr. R?”

Gabriel looked between innocent Robin and her grim looking father. He cleared his throat softly, “I think she’s bragging to the angels about how smart and pretty you are.”

Robin beamed at that, “Really?”

Nodding, Gabriel glanced at Sam and saw all traces of his smile gone, looking somberly between his child and her teacher. “Really. Did you want to check out your cubby? It’s where you’ll put your lunch box and hang your backpack. C’mon.”

Sam looked grateful for the subject change, and never let it be said Gabriel couldn’t read most people like books. He showed Robin where her cubby was and then Sam was saying it was time to go. Robin hugged Gabriel’s leg and walked out of the room holding Sam’s hand and waving with the other.

“See you Monday,” Gabriel said.

Sam nodded and they walked off. Gabriel waved to the empty doorway, force of habit, and paused with his hand mid-wave. He looked down and his hand fell back by his side.

~*~ *~* ~*~

About half the class was already there when Sam and Robin walked in. Gabriel was expecting the buses to drop off the remaining children any minute, but he took a moment to greet them.

“Robin! Sam! So glad to see you. Don’t forget your locker is over there, next to that purple hello kitty backpack, okay?” Gabriel directed Robin who received a kiss on the cheek from Sam before she was off. “She ready for her first day?”

“More than I am,” Sam shrugged and watched his child join her tablemates and start talking immediately. Gabriel placed a comforting hand on his shoulder which pulled his attention back.

“She’s in good hands, don’t worry. I promise today will be fine,” the shorter man spoke sincerely, a small reassuring smile pulling his lips and lighting his eyes.

Sam thanked him and left, looking back one last time at his daughter then her teacher who was telling one kid to keep his shoes on.

~*~ *~* ~*~

It became easier for Sam to fall into a routine over the next few weeks. Waking up, making coffee, waking Robin, drinking the coffee and making breakfast for them both, driving her to school, talking to Gabriel for a minute or two, driving to work, working, driving to the school to pick Robin up from the after school club which was basically free babysitting, going home, making dinner, going to bed.

He hadn’t even realized talking to Gabriel in the morning was a routine part of his day until he picked up Robin one day and she was talking about her teacher. She did that a lot, but today she was talking about Gabriel _and_ Sam.

“Mr. Ryder says to tell you that the ‘Back to the Future movies beat any knock off CSI cop shows’ you watch. Daddy what’s CSI?”

Sam didn’t answer for a moment, absently picking at the vegetables on his plate, mind replaying his conversation with Gabriel that morning. As he was recalling their bickering over TV and movies, Sam found himself smiling.

“Daddy?”

“Huh? What is it honey?”

“What’s CSI?” Robin repeated, poking a carrot with her fork.

Sam blinked and looked up from his plate, “Oh. It’s about cops and bad guys.”

“Like the Revenger?”

“The Avengers. But no, not exactly.”

They finished in silence, Robin stealthily not eating her vegetables and Sam didn’t notice. When she was asleep, he picked up a picture frame with a photo of the three of them laughing and smiling at the camera. Closing his eyes and letting out a shaky breath, Sam managed to put down the frame and turn on the shower before he broke down. The running water masked his quiet sniffles and half-sobs, and the gentle water carried his tears down the drain.

He dreamt of her smile, but woke up with puffy eyes that wouldn’t go away. Gabriel said nothing, if he noticed.

~*~ *~* ~*~

“So who’s your hot friend who always talks to you in the mornings?” Charlie asked as a way of greeting, interrupting Gabriel taking down the class’ ‘this is me’ descriptions and replacing them with drawings of imaginary animals on the bulletin board on the wall outside of his classroom.

“Robin’s father.” He said shortly. Though Charlie was a second grade teacher and helped with any of the library’s technical difficulties, she knew Robin. The kid had a way of making friends with everyone she met.

“Really? I suppose they’re both just social then,” the redhead said but it came out as more of a question.

“If your suggesting that Mr. Winchester is interested in a relationship with me than you’re poorly mistaken. His wife died only about a year ago, he’s not in the game right now. Plus he just talks to me because we’re friends or something,” Gabriel waved her off.

“Or something?”

“Yeah. Acquaintances. Peers. I’m his daughter’s teacher, a relationship would hardly be appropriate. If I even wanted one with him,” he sounded defensive through his nonchalant demeanor.

Charlie pointed out, “Chuck wouldn’t fire you. You’ve been friends since we all went to school here.”

“Well I don’t want to date the guy.”

“Sure,” Charlie smiled and Gabriel rolled his eyes, stepping back to view his students’ work.

~*~ *~* ~*~

Sam had volunteered as a parent chaperon for the kindergarten fieldtrip to the zoo, and was wondering if he was ever going to actually have to do something. Apparently they had nearly twice the amount of parents sign up than needed, so he and the mother of one of Robin’s friends were currently in charge of five kids. It was easy keeping track of them, as Robin and her friend didn’t stray far from their parents, and the other three were content to stay within eyesight.

All was fine until they crossed paths with a frazzled looking Gabriel who’d not ended up with a second helper. When he spotted Sam he all but jumped for joy, beckoning his friend over to where he had his group of kids sitting on a bench. One kid had drying hair and clothes, and another had a big purple stain on her shirt.

“Oh thank God. I took the group of rowdy kids to make it easier for Mrs. Miller. Since we got here, Tommy has fallen into a fountain, Liz nearly opened a birdcage, and Randy dumped his juice on Marie. If your group is behaving, could one of you help me out?” Gabriel explained quickly.

Sam checked with the mother he was paired with, who said she’d had four kids before this one and been on many fieldtrips, so she could handle it. From the way Gabriel lit up, Sam could’ve swore he was thinking about kissing the woman. The teacher settled for a string of ‘thank you’s and the two waved as Sam’s original group headed towards the sea lions. Robin looked apologetic as she kept walking with her friend, but Sam nodded and she turned back to her group.

“Sam you must have supernatural powers because you showed up right when I thought I was going to start dumping juice on people too.”

Sam laughed and Gabriel told him the names of the children in his group, and they set off towards the grassland animals section of the zoo. The kids were still rowdy, but there were no more accidents involving liquids. They were looking at the zebras when Gabriel spoke.

“So Mr. Kumar. You want to go grab a drink with some friends of mine this weekend?”

Sam’s eyebrows raised. “Did you just make a reference to Life of Pi?”

“Yes. So wadda say?” Gabriel looked away from Sam, his cheeks slightly pink as he focused his gaze on the zebras who were positively boring.

“Yeah, I think I’d like that. Here,” he handed Gabriel his phone and the shorter man put in his number.

Sam sent him a text and Gabriel saved the number. They both looked over to see Tommy trying to pet a zebra close to the wall. Gabriel scolded him, and Sam lead the way to the big cats section. When they got there, the kids were too fascinated to misbehave, and Sam stood by Gabriel again.

He nudged the teacher with his elbow and pointed to a cage, “Look. Richard Parker.”

Gabriel laughed and they looked at the sleeping tiger. His laughter trailed off when he noticed Sam staring, and his small smile reflected Sam’s.

“Mr. Ryder, Mr. Robin’s dad!” Liz called out.

They broke eye contact to see Brady and Tommy hitting their fists against the glass of the lion’s enclosure. Sam and Gabriel hurried over to stop them, and Gabriel gave the whole group a lecture. There was no more trouble after that, but it could’ve been that the kids were tired from walking around for five hours. They met up with the other groups and checked off everyone present. Then they boarded the buses to go back to the school, and though there were a few empty seats on their bus, Sam and Gabriel sat in the same one.

~*~ *~* ~*~

That Saturday, Robin was at a friend’s house having a sleepover, and Sam was pacing in his room. Gabriel had said drinks with friends. Not a date. So what should he wear? Was it a high end bar, or more of a sports bar scene? He finally settled for jeans and a plaid shirt. Comfort in habits.

He went to the bar a few minutes early, and stood by a wall looking for Gabriel. He didn’t see him, but Gabriel had said the principal would be there and Sam spotted Chuck with a few of the staff he’s seen and people he didn’t know. Walking over, he took a seat next to a redhead and an empty chair.

The redhead greeted him, “You must be Sam! Gabriel talks about you a lot. I’m Charlie.”

Confused and blushing slightly, Sam said, “Nice to meet you. I’ve seen you around the school, what do you teach?”

“I am the leader of our next generation of LARPers.”

As Sam is about to ask what she meant, Chuck cut in. “She teaches second grade. She happens to use a lot of skits and things to teach.”

Nodding in understanding, Sam smiled. “Lord of the Rings?”

“Hell yeah. Doctor Who?”

Sam nodded, and Charlie grinned. “I approve. Your daughter is super adorable by the way.”

“Thanks. How–”

“Who you gonna call?” Someone sat in the empty seat beside Sam and slung an arm around him, leaning over to look at Charlie.

“No you.” She said like she’d done it plenty of times.

Gabriel grinned and explained to Sam. “Special greeting.”

The group talked over drinks for hours, and Sam learned that Chuck was writing a series of books, Andy had spent time in Africa finding himself, Charlie was able to hack into almost any site on the web, and Gabriel could play guitar and sing.

“You should show me some time,” Sam told him, smiling peacefully and eyelids starting to feel heavy.

There was a chorus of ‘yeah’s across the table, and Gabriel turned red for the first time that Sam had ever seen. He found it endearing.

“No, no, no. Sorry kiddos but no can do.”

“Oh c’mon Gabriel, you’re good. He’s good,” Chuck repeated to Sam as if it were a secret.

Sam nodded seriously, believing him. “Please?”

Gabriel shook his head. “I’m no musician.”

The conversation steered away after that, and Sam stopped drinking because he had to pick Robin up the next day from her sleepover. He’d rather not have a hangover if he was going to be getting up at a respectable time and driving his daughter home. Chuck and Charlie took to water soon after, but Gabriel and the few others kept drinking. Especially the one named Ash who was a riot to be around, and Sam laughed until his stomach hurt.

A little before midnight, the group dispersed, and Sam thought Gabriel was too inebriated to drive so he led him to his car, waving at Chuck who was smiling at Gabriel leaning on Sam. They listened to the soft radio as Gabriel gave vague directions to his apartment.

“You ever think of birds?” Gabriel said suddenly, looking at Sam with an odd expression.

“Not on a regular basis, no. Why?”

“I think they are nice.”

Sam smiled at Gabriel’s drunken musings. “What makes them nice?”

Bringing his hands together like he was trying to make a shadow puppet bird fly, he said, “They’ve got wings. They could go anywhere. But they stay. I think it’s nice. Sweet how they find something worth sticking around for.”

Sam didn’t know what to say, and Gabriel was quiet for the rest of the drive, save for a few directions. Gabriel couldn’t open his door, so Sam had to turn the key for him. They were greeted by a small dog that wagged his tail hard enough that his whole body shook too. Gabriel disappeared and Sam lingered just inside of the apartment, unsure of his welcome.

When Gabriel came back, the dog laid in its bed and watched the two. The shorter man had a guitar, and the taller man was looking at him weird.

“Don’t tell the others. But they’ve heard me play and you haven’t so screw them.” Gabriel’s steps faltered a bit as he made his way to a couch and sat down.

“You sure you want to do that while you’re so drunk?” Sam asked and sat on the other end of the couch.

“Oh please. It’s fine.” Then he began to strum a few chords, and Sam knew the song before Gabriel began singing.

“Where it began, I can't begin to knowin' but then,” Gabriel’s voice was a bit slurred from the alcohol, and sometimes he’d miss a chord, but Sam was impressed.

“Sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good. I’ve been incline to believe they never would. But now I look at the night and it don’t seem so lonely.”

Sam knew he was staring, but Gabriel didn’t seem to mind, he was lost in the song, strumming happily and singing. When he finished, he put down the guitar and raised an eyebrow at Sam.

“You’re good.”

Gabriel shrugged, neither agreeing or disagreeing, then yawned and stood. He walked without balance, and Sam went to help him to his room. When they got there, Gabriel shucked all but his underwear off with no shame, and Sam could feel his face burning. The shorter man merely got under the covers and said a sleepy, “Goodnight.”

Sam left a cup of water and a bottle of aspirin on the night stand, then let himself out. Gabriel woke up to a text that read, “We can pick up your car when you stop being hung over. Oh, and you may not be a musician, but you’re not bad. –Sam.”

~*~ *~* ~*~

They had been finger painting today, and Gabriel had some of it on his shirt. It would come out, but he’d rather not be a canvas for paint brushes attached to kids with overly enthusiastic gestures. He was pretty sure some of it was on his face, but he was too busy wiping down the tables to bother worrying about it.

As it was, he heard a familiar high pitched laugh and a lower voice trying to talk over the giggling. A few moments later, Sam and Robin walked by, and something urged him to call out. “Hey, Sam-I-Am! Robin! What’s shakin’?”

They quickly turned around and poked their head through the door, then Robin bounded into the classroom. Sam was staring at Gabriel, and the teacher was suddenly very aware of the paint all over him. He felt his ears burning as he said, “Hey, Sam.”

Robin started telling Gabriel about something she did in the after school club as Sam drifted across the room.

“And we was playing house and Ana was the mom and Mark was the brother and I was the cat and…”

Gabriel was staring at Sam who had come to stand very close to him. Robin chattered away, oblivious to the adults’ lack of attention.

“You’ve got some paint…” Sam trailed off, hand hovering by Gabriel’s cheek.

“Yeah,” Gabriel whispered.

Sam’s eyes were locked on Gabriel’s as he reached forward and rubbed his thumb over the paint. Neither man was breathing, and Gabriel leaned up, eyebrows softly drawing together.

“BOOM! The blocks all fell over and hit Miss. Jo’s desk and we all had to help clean them up…” Robin kept talking as her father and her teacher jumped apart.

“That’s a nice story Robin. I’m sure you can finish telling it to me tomorrow,” Gabriel interrupted her.

Sam picked her up and left, habitually stopping in the doorway to say goodbye, waving awkwardly as Gabriel scratched the back of his neck. The two Winchesters hurried down the hall, Robin calling a loud farewell to her teacher. Breathing fast, heart beat going twice as fast, Gabriel sunk down into one of the too small plastic chairs at the nearest desk. When Charlie stopped by later and found Gabriel with his forehead on the still dirty desk, eyes closed and clearly in the distress of sudden realization, she smiled.

“Told you. Ask him out or something. Also, did you know that you have paint on your face or…?”

Gabriel thudded his head against the desk in reply.

~*~ *~* ~*~

Sam woke up the next morning half-hard, and lazily rutted against the sheets until he remembered who his dream had been about last night. He had been wiping chocolate off of Gabriel’s cheek, and the shorter man had been smirking in a way that should be illegal. When he dropped Robin off at school, he said hello and goodbye to Gabriel in the same sentence.

~*~ *~* ~*~

Chuck had noticed that his best friend had been down in the dumps all week, and it worried him because that last time he was upset his fiancé was driving away. With their car. So of course he was going to ask why his buddy wasn’t in the mood for a beer or making inappropriate comments outside of work. He wasn’t expecting the answer he got.

“Gabriel, why are you acting like someone stole your candy and replaced it with spinach?”

“A moose tried to get finger paint off my face, then ran away and hasn’t spoken to me since.”

Chuck was thoroughly confused, “Um, what?”

“Sam Winchester. Robin’s dad? He and I had been becoming friends, and my heart decided to have stupid feelings. But I don’t think he’s looking for a relationship. When he started getting closer to my face I thought ‘hey maybe this is it’ but then he snapped out of it and hightailed it out of there. And he’s been avoiding me now for a week and a half,” Gabriel lamented, petting – definitely not hugging and burying his face into – his dog’s fur and avoiding Chuck’ gaze.

“Maybe he’s having a hard time transitioning from mourning to moving on. It’s been two years since Kali left and you still haven’t been on a date to my knowledge. Just give him a bit to think it out. He’ll come around, even if he doesn’t want the kind of relationship you do. Chin up, buddy,” Chuck’s words slightly calmed Gabriel and he sighed.

“I guess you’re right.”

~*~ *~* ~*~

Robin found her father staring at a picture of momma one night. She couldn’t sleep, and wandered from her room to see Sam’s shoulder’s shaking and to hear him sniffing. Not saying a word, she hugged her father’s leg, and Sam startled before picking Robin up and carrying her to the couch. She cuddled against his chest until the tears were silent and he wasn’t huffing for air.

“Do you miss momma?”

Sam smiled, a tear falling onto Robin’s hair. “Yeah sweetie, I do.”

“Don’t worry. Even Mr. R. said she was up with the angels,” his daughter assured him.

Sam’s breathing stuttered again and he closed his eyes, rocking his daughter back and forth until she fell asleep in his arms. He tucked her back into bed and washed the dried salt tracks from his face. He dreamed of the night he came home to a fire truck in his driveway and their old house up in flames. He dreamt of the ambulance that pulled away with a covered body. He remembered the ‘I’m sorry for your loss’s and how he’d held onto Robin and cried, the light from the fire blurring in his vision. Sam dreamed of Jess sitting beside him, smiling softly with sad eyes saying, “Let go. Be happy for Robin.”

~*~ *~* ~*~

Sam started dropping Robin off with circles under his eyes, offering Gabriel small smiles and quiet ‘hello’s. A few weeks went by and it was almost back to normal, and Gabriel most certainly did not do a victory fist pump after Sam had left when he’d laughed for the first time in Gabriel’s presence in weeks.

But then as they were doing another art project, Robin finished her quickly and began working on another. When Gabriel walked by, he saw her cutting hearts from red, purple, and pink construction paper. Smiling, he asked her if that was for her dad.

“No, Mr. R. It’s for someone special.”

“Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me,” he’d winked and moved to a different student who need help opening a glue bottle.

Then, as the last bell rang and the children were a flurry of little monsters grabbing backpacks and lunch boxes and turning down the hall to go to the buses or parent pick-up, Robin stayed behind. Gabriel hadn’t noticed until the room was quiet and he was picking up forgotten pencils and she spoke. He nearly swore in surprise, but turned around and managed to not look like he’d just jumped out of his skin.

She handed him a paper heart, made of ripped pieces of smaller hearts. The red, purple, and pink ones she’d been working on earlier. Not saying a word, she just handed it to him and turned to leave for the after school club.

“Robin wait,” he called.

She turned back around, confused. Gabriel looked down at the heart and had a difficult time getting the words out of his mouth. “Robin, what is this? I thought you said it was for someone special.”

“You are special. That’s for you. It’s my daddy’s heart. It’s a bit mis-matchy and broke, but you like it. So I made you a paper one, and make you can fix it to be a bit more like his happy heart.”

Gabriel gaped, something tight clenching in his chest as she walked back over and looked up solemnly. “He’s awful lonely.  I had to help him stop crying a few times, because he said he’s got an ouchie here,” she pointed to her heart. “He likes you, I know you could do it because you’re special. You will fix it for him right?” Robin half pleaded half demanded, looking up at her teacher with wide eyes.

“I…”

“Promise?” She held out her pinky finger.

Gabriel crouched down and linked his smallest finger with hers, “I promise. Now get to your club before they think you got lost.”

Robin beamed and exited the room, leaving Gabriel to slump down to the floor from his crouch and stare at his pinky. He closed his hand and covered it with the other one, bringing them up to rest his chin on them. Closing his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look at the patched paper heart, Gabriel repeated to the empty room.

“I promise.”

~*~ *~* ~*~

Gabriel saw Sam in the audience for the kindergarten winter play. Robin had a minor role, but Sam paid attention, smiled and clapped, and seemed happy. He was talking to a man with dark hair and a focused gaze, and a man in a leather jacket who clapped just as hard as Sam did at the end, even calling out a “Good job, Robin!”

He meant to talk to Sam as people mingled around afterwards, but Robin and her father were lost among the crowd or left early to escape parking lot traffic. Gabriel subconsciously rubbed his pinky.

~*~ *~* ~*~

Gabriel and Sam were talking about what happened during winter break when Gabriel noticed the circles under Sam’s eyes had faded, just slightly, but it made him smile. Sam was mending, slowly but surely. Gabriel just wished he was helping. He didn’t want Sam’s heart ripped or torn more than it was, but paper is fragile.

~*~ *~* ~*~

One Wednesday, a week or two from the first buds of spring, Sam walked in with Robin in tow to see an elderly woman at Gabriel’s desk. He told Robin to hang up her backpack and approached the woman. It was strange to see her there, and the room felt different without Gabriel there.

“Excuse me ma’am, but where is Mr. Ryder?”

She looked up from her book and said, “Oh, that poor man. He’s caught a bug from one of the youngsters and is sick as a dog, bless his soul. He should be back in a few days.”

Nodding, Sam left. He felt like he had forgotten something, or was missing something all day. At work he was quieter than normal, not talking to his coworker Brady, or anyone all because he missed his morning powwow with Gabriel.

Thursday passed. No Gabriel. Friday came and went without a sighting of him. The weekend managed to be slow and fast simultaneously. Then Monday came and the clouds cleared when Sam followed Robin into the classroom to see Gabriel bent down by a desk to talk to a student. Waiting until the teacher turned around, Sam called to the shorter man.

“Gabriel! You’re back!”

Beaming, Gabriel joined Sam by his desk then said, “Feels great to be back. Having my head in the toilet is not a fun pastime. Kids are cute, but they are germ farms. I would’ve been back Friday, but everything hurt like the dickens still, and I had no clue if I was still contagious or not.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re back,” Sam said, a slight smile pulling at his lips.

“Me too, Sam. Me too.”

~*~ *~* ~*~

Robin was out with her uncle Dean one night, and Sam was in the shower, trying to decide if he should let his arousal get the better of him or not. During the weeks since ‘the paint incident’ Sam had admitted to himself that he was attracted to Gabriel. But something about it felt wrong, like maybe he was being disloyal to Jess, who had passed a little over a year and a half ago.

Telling himself she would have wanted him to move on at some point, Sam let images of Gabriel bring him through it, and he whisper the shorter man’s name as he threw his head back. When he got out of the shower, he dressed and grabbed his keys, anxious to get to his destination.

He parked the car, and walked along the paved paths until he got to the newer part of the cemetery. Spring frogs were chirping, and buds were growing on the trees, not yet ready to open. Sam kneeled down by a tombstone he hadn’t seen since his child’s mother was put to rest. The frogs calmed him, and a cool evening breeze drifted through the cemetery.

“Hey Jess. I, uh, I hope you’re happy wherever you are. You were taken so young, when our family was just beginning, and I still wish I could have grown old with you,” Sam swallowed around the lump in his throat before continuing, “I bet you know Robin is doing okay, she’s just as beautiful as you. But, um, even she thinks it’s time I start putting my toes back into the water,” Sam smiled at that.

“I just wanted to tell you I love you, and I’ll always love you, even if I come to love other people. I know you’d be telling me to go and be happy, and believe me I’m trying. But I think, I think I needed to do this first before I could do that. I needed to say goodbye, but this is not the end of how much I care about you. So, keep watching over Robin for me, you were always better at getting her to wear sensible clothes…”

“I’m going to try. For you, for Robin, for me. I love you, Jess. Never doubt that.” Sam finished, wiping his wet eyes and standing, placing flowers in front of her grave before walking out of the cemetery feeling lighter.

~*~ *~* ~*~

Days passed, and Gabriel saw changes in Sam. He was smiling more genuinely, and reciprocating some of Gabriel’s flirtatious behavior. One night he asked Gabriel out for drinks and they laughed so hard they were crying and went home with sore abdomens. Gabriel had pinned Robin’s paper heart to his fridge, and every day he reminded himself that he promised to fix Sam’s heart. Every time Sam smiled, it felt like he was keeping his promise.

~*~ *~* ~*~

“Daddy?”

“What is it honey?” Sam asked distractedly as he typed away on his laptop.

“When are you and Mr. Ryder going to get married?”

Sam nearly got whiplash when he quickly turned around to look at his daughter who was sitting at the kitchen table and swinging her legs as she drew in a coloring book.

“What? Robin where did you get the idea that Ga–Mr. Ryder and I were getting married?”

“’Cos you smile more around him,” she said simply, selecting an orange crayon and running it across the paper.

Sam sat and thought about that for a long time.

~*~ *~* ~*~

It was the end of the school year, and all of the kids were excited for summer and getting harder to control. Gabriel had received merciless teasing and urging from Chuck, Charlie, and Andy, but he was content to move at Sam’s pace. Which was slow, but Gabriel thought it meant more for that.

On that last day of school, Gabriel was among the line of teachers that stood in the main hall and waved as the students filed out the doors and to the buses. Andy may have shed a few tears, but Gabriel didn’t comment as he walked back to his classroom and began taking off all of the colorful posters, letters, and numbers. He was rolling up his sleeves and silently thanking whoever had fixed his air conditioner all those months ago because the late May was warming up fast. Climbing up a ladder, he used a staple remover to pick out all of the staples and let the posters fall to the ground.

He crawled back down and was throwing away a handful of staples when a familiar face popped in the doorway. Robin was smiling through two lost teeth, and he greeted her before moving the ladder over and climbing back up.

A sudden voice to his right said, “Need any help?”

“Jesus Chri–”

Gabriel jumped and lost his balance, arms wheeling as he tumbled from the ladder and landed in… arms?

“You okay?” Sam said smirking, righting Gabriel on his feet and fixing the ladder.

“Besides my near heart attack. Why are you guys here so late?”

Robin piped up, “Daddy wanted to see you.”

Sam opened then closed his mouth, smiling sheepishly. A slow smile spread across Gabriel’s face as Sam’s ears turned red. Neither man noticed the people gathering in the doorway.

“And what did you want to see me about?” Gabriel smirked.

Sam looked flustered then rambled, “Look I – for a few weeks I’ve – I didn’t know if you’d – and then – oh for gosh sakes!”

He grabbed Gabriel by the collar and kissed him, pulling back when Gabriel froze. Then Gabriel was running his hands through Sam’s hair and the kiss continued slowly and shyly. When they pulled apart they both had smiles on their faces.

“You owe me twenty. Pay up,” a voice whispered in the doorway.

Sam and Gabriel turned around to see Robin giggling and peeking through her fingers, and Andy handing over a twenty to Charlie while Chuck stood there smiling at the two men.

“If anyone asks, Sam confessed his unending love for me, and then I kissed him. And there was no falling off a ladder. Got it?” Gabriel said, smirking at Sam.

There was a series of grumbles and Gabriel grinned, walking over to a wall he hadn’t cleaned yet. He pointed to his Five Commandments, “Rule number one. What Mr. Ryder says, goes. Especially for adults,” he winked at Sam as he said the last part and everyone burst out laughing. Sam and Gabriel were smiling at each other, and the paper didn’t seem so thin.


End file.
